I have owned my Framework 13 laptop for a bit more than a year now. As of a couple days ago, the fan makes a scraping sound when it spins, even at low RPM. This is the second time this has happened since I got the laptop.
The first time, the symptoms were the same. I contacted support, who helped me troubleshoot the issue. When none of the suggested fixes worked, they sent me a replacement cooling assembly free of charge. The process was as painless as customer support can be and I was satisfied with my replacement.
But now that the issue is back it leaves me wondering: Is this going to happen every 6 months? Will I have to order a new fan twice a year because the bearings wear out? How common is this issue? Was I just unlucky and got two defective fans? I will try blowing out dust and checking for anything obstructing the fan, but I’m not confident that’s going to solve the issue.
A quick google search brings up a number of posts from users with the exact same problem. The solution always seems to be to replace the whole cooling system, which seems very wasteful considering it’s only the fan that is defective. Does anyone have a fix for this, other than getting a replacement? Is there a way to take the fan apart and put everything back in place? Have there been any hardware revisions in the past 6 months addressing the issue? If not, I will probably just stick with the noisy fan until it stops spinning.
I like having a laptop that I can repair, I don’t want a laptop that I have to repair twice a year.
Hey man! I feel for your issue because I guess I have encountered the same issue with my FW13 AMD laptop. I would also bet that the bearings are the culprit.
Here is link to a audio I recorded with my FW laptop. Can you please confirm if you are suffering from the same more or less?
Very similar experience to @gringrind. The first fan got replaced by support just after using the laptop for about 1 month and now the new fan also starts to sound like it is scraping again. So far, it is barely noticeable, but I also expect it to get worse.
EDIT: @Jan_Slavotinek1 I can confirm that my first fan sounded like this. The second one isn’t there yet, I suppose.
I have the same problem with the Framework 16 laptop GPU left fan. When I apply some light pressure around the fan, it gets louder. Is this a bearing issue?
I have no clue where the issue originates from. But it simply is there. I am really worried that this issue is here to stay :/. Its a small thing, but it decreses the quality of life of a FW users.
I have been given a new fan-heatsing component to replace mine, but I am worried that soon enough the issue will be back as others reported.
I will replace the fan and see if the issue returns back. If so, I will contact support again. I mean this issue should be removed.
I can confirm the pressure issue. When I am fiddling with the screws of the fan, it has some impact on the issue. However, I am unable to resolve the issue just by changing the pressure by tightening or loosening the screws.
I am also having this issue on my less than a month old FW16… Definitely a scraping sound.
Just emailed support to see about a replacement fan (fingers crossed), but kinda worried it will happen again… Wondering if there’s a better quality fan I can replace it with?
I haven’t found anything that could replace it other than what they provide, but I wouldn’t worry. Support replaced my GPU since the beginning of June, and I’m not experiencing any issues.
I got a similar rattling noise on my 12th Gen Framework, contacted support and after some back and forth they sent me a replacement fan and heatsink. Exchanging it took about 10 minutes and the sound is gone with the new module.
Even though the old module got that rattling noise, I’ve used it for month and it kept working, and stayed at about the same rattling volume. So I guess the biggest problem are the audible issues.
Just for the sake of documenting the issue so support knows many people have this problem: The fan on my 11th gen failed this way (a year after the warranty expired) so I bought a new one. That one failed in less than a year, and Framework support replaced it under warranty. The newest one (third one) is starting to sound bad, too.
Mine is still making the noise… It seems like it’s a flaw in the way the housing for the fan is designed to me; the exterior plastic housing is just too close to the fan blades for it not to rub against the housing. If anyone has any suggestions for how to replace the fan with a non coolermaster fan and/or a replacement housing that isn’t as tight up against the fan it would be much appreciated
Same here with my Framework 13 (11th gen). Here is a recording of the fan noise. I’ve already changed the fan block once at the beginning of May (so 6 months ago) and the same problem is reappearing with the replacement part.
Hello
I received my Framework Laptop 13 Intel® Core™ Ultra Series 1 (Ultra 7 165H) a month ago, I installed Xubuntu on it, I’m very happy with it except that it’s very noisy, the fan starts up as soon as I run a test in VSCode. Basically, as soon as a CPU-intensive calculation starts, the fan starts screaming.
I’m a bit less worried about this when I’m on the battery, I’ve installed TLP, I’ve changed the settings to economy mode on tuned for connected mode, but that hasn’t changed anything.
I bumped into another Framework owner last week and I spoke to him about it. He told me that he never hears the fan and that it’s not normal and that I should bring it up here to see if I’ve got a hardware problem.
What do you think?
Welcome to the forum!!
yeah, you bought a thin and light with an intel cpu that isnt kneecapped. The framework laptop’s fan curve is set and the laptop runs temperature wise so that it idles just under the fan ramp up point. Therefore it is potentially erratic at times. There are a few easy ways to fix this like repasting with PTM or even just a nicer silicon based thermal paste (noctua NT-H2 is good). Note that the other framework owner may have a higher tolerance for fan noise than you do, my FW13 running at 60w boost with my fans cranked all the way isn’t super loud to my perception but others who for example may come from a passive macbook may be annoyed by it.
Honestly I don’t think it’s normal, it blows like an airplane each time I do anything.
The guy I talked with has a 13th gen and can build 7 python distrib at the same time without earing the fan
I run only 1 and I can’t ear anything else around as it blows loud
